picky

Seated for dinner: From Left: Caroline, Verna and Customsteve01

David: You and Annie have a beautiful home and you are both wonderful hosts. Thanks so much for everything! Here's a shot of "The Three Amigos" at dinner while waiting for our table: From left: Picky, Customsteve01 and Seadog.

Budman: It was about 1,245 miles and driving time was around 18 hours over two days. On the way down, we spent the first night in Jackson, TN after one Hell of a rainstorm. On the way back, we drove up to Marion, Illinois to spend the first night on our way home. We had business in the Marion area. The second day we drove to Detroit via Indianapolis, where we stopped to have dinner with fellow Klipschter, Indyklipschfan and his kids. It was great to see them again! Our 2005 Ford Freestyle crossover has AWD and still got about 22 MPG, which isn't bad for a 4,000 pound vehicle with the A/C on the whole time. -Glenn

Budman: Yep, the fuel was a bit pricey (worst was in Michigan at $4.18/gallon for 87 octane) but it was well worth it to see everyone! -Glenn

Our gracious hosts: Annie and Seadog. Notice the youngster the window. LOL -Glenn

Seadog and Annie with their large, outdoor flatscreen. A pair Klipsch AW-650's (or similar models) flanked the television and sounded awesome! -Glenn

Verna and I decided to take a road trip from Detroit down to Fort Worth, Texas this past week to see Customsteve01 and his wife, Caroline. While we were there, we all hooked up with fellow Klipschter, Seadog, who also lives in the Dallas/Forth Worth area. We all met for dinner at an awesome Mexican restaurant. Afterwards, we followed Seadog and his wife, Annie over to their beautiful home. We sat out on their gorgeous patio and watched game 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Following that, we went inside to listen to some of Seadog's amazing Klipsch equipment. Thank you so very much to Seadog and Annie for welcoming us all into your beautiful home! What a wonderful time we had: Just another of many great Klipsch forum member experiences! -Glenn In photo, from left: Picky, Caroline, Verna and Customsteve01

Yes, congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks. I must admit that the better team won. I'd like to see them win the cup this year so that we Wings fans know that we were defeated by the best. It would be great to see Boston continue to clobber Pittsburgh. I always love it when the Penguins loose! (evil laugh): Muuuhhhh-ha-ha-ha-haaaaa! -Glenn

There's been no official word on the pilgrimage for this year since April 23rd and there's not been much chatter here about this among the members. It's sad to say there most-likely will not be a pilgrimage this year. I hope this isn't the start of a trend. -Glenn

Sorry folks, I realize have been remiss in posting during the playoffs. I graduated from school in early May, so I have been taking a break from the computer and to a degree, social media in general. In June, I plan to do a deep dive into the job search game. I've now been laid-off for 3-1/2 years and I stopped my job search to earn myself a second associates degree, this time in Network Administration along the way. Hopefully, this effort will lead to new employment. As for the playoffs, tonight we will witness game 7 between the first seed Chicago Blackhawks and the 7th seed Detroit Red Wings. The game is in Chicago but Detroit has defeated the Hawks there before. It should be a great game, just so long as the officiating is kept neutral this time, unlike that last game. I understand the Kings defeated the Sharks so whomever the winner is tonight will have to take on LA in the Western Division Finals. Naturally I hope that team is Detroit. All I can say at this point is: GO WINGS! Mike Babcock, work your magic! -Glenn

Verna and I bought our RSW-15 in 2004 for $1,800 when we purchased our entire RF-7-based, 7.1 system. We bought it from a local stereo shop in Dearborn, Michigan that was a Klipsch dealer. Unfortunately, the place is now gone. We absolutely LOVE our RSW-15 and vote in favor of a new Klipsch RSW-15 II! -Glenn

I just sent an email to Trey. We'll see what he says. Thanks. -Glenn

Let me get this straight: There's been no official update here from Klipsch here since April 23rd, but it's been mentioned that the pilgrimage is probably going to be in Hope, Arkansas during the first week of August this year, which coincides with Hope Annual Watermelon Festival. This concerns me on two fronts: The heat & storm factor and hotel room availability. With the Watermelon Festival going on (Hopes biggest annual event), there will most likely be very few, if any, hotel rooms left. And the heat in Hope in mid-June hits as high as 110 degrees. I can't begin to imagine what the "dog days" of August will bring. At any rate, I am sorry that I've brought a negative slant to the proposed plans. That wasn't my intention. But, personally, Verna and I would be unable to attend this year if that timeframe is kept because we would have a schedule conflict: Our home town of Allen Park, Michigan hosts its Annual Street Fair the first weekend of August. And during that weekend, on Friday and Saturday evening, the town sponsors a sort of annual high school reunion at the fair for all returning grads of the Allen Park High School, of which I belong to the class of 1970. Additionally, the city typically hires me to photograph the two-day event, so this is a "do-not-miss" event for us. I am so sorry everyone, because the annual Klipsch events are so very important to us both, too. We have so many wonderful friends at Klipsch and within the forum that we look forward to seeing each year. I will stay tuned here to see if anything changes. But, if early August is firm, I hope the Pilgrimage will be a huge success! We will miss each and every one of you! -Glenn

I'd like to thank bhenry and his lovely wife, Pam for having Dizrotus and I over to their beautiful home for a few hours yesterday to listen to some tunes on their home theater system. They also provided us with some food and beverages and have a super-friendly, easy-going dog named "Duncan". It was my second time vising their home and Dizrotus' first time meeting them both in person. They have a killer RF-7 based system with two, count 'em, TWO RSW-15 subs and plenty of B&K power to back everything up. Their's also a beautiful Pioneer Plasma hanging on the wall. Dizrotus and I both brought over a few of our own CDs and DVDs and we also listened to a few selections that bhenry had as well. The first time I visited their place was earlier in the year (or was it December?) when bhenry contacted me to come over and tweak the system to match the room. And a very nice room it is, too! He and I spent about 3 hours on that day, plotting the response curve of the room using a sound level meter with test tones that are built into his B&K preamp. We used the plot to make setting changes to the B&K Preamp EQ. By the time I left that day, we both agreed that there was a huge difference in sound quality. bhenry mentioned he'd continue to tweak the settings on his own until they totally met his expectations. And, after our visit yesterday, I must say he was highly successful! He mentioned he didn't need to make any drastic alterations, mainly changes to volume levels and such. But, given the diversity of all of the music we threw at the system yesterday, I'd have to say the system is very optimized! We had had a great time relating some stories both technical and funny. It was a wonderful way to spend our evening together discussing our common interest in music and equipment as well as our vocations and families. Klipsch probably has no idea of just how many people they have brought together who now consider themselves as friends. Yet another wonderful experience I have now enjoyed with some of my fellow forum brethren! Thank you bhenry, Pam and Dizrotus for a great evening and for the hospitality. And thank you too, Duncan. SIt! Stay! Good boy! - Glenn

Guilty as charged! Two of these little guys (Optimus) still serve as the rear channels of our living room's Pro-Logic 5.1 system for daily TV viewing. The front 3 channels are B&W LM (Liesure Monitor) Series and the sub is a Polk 10-inch. I call the system our "Heinz 57 Set-up"! lol -Glenn

Happy Easter to all of my Klipsch Peeps! lol -Glenn

I use Libre Office on Open SuSE. Virtual Box is managed by Oracle, too and it is also free. -Glenn

Jeff: Three years ago prior to being laid off, I held a philosophy similar to yours regarding upgrades. However, poverty can be humbling and I now find myself trying to eek out as much usefulness from most products as I can before considering discarding or replacing them. My 2002 HP dual-Xeon processor workstation is still kicking butt on XP for my video editing, so I'll be trying to keep that old boy up-and-running as long as possible. Regarding Microsoft Office products that others have mentioned: I am shocked no one here has mentioned Apache Open Office or other freeware. Open Office has been around for years and it is an excellent alternative to MS Word, which will open .doc files and the best part is that it's FREE! I use it at school like crazy! -Glenn

Yeah, I've noticed, especially since I have not been on here as often as I'd like due to homework. Facebook has taken its toll, too as it tends to "demand" attention. I'm expecting to finish school in May, so I will be ready for a break in June unless I am able to find a job first. The pilgrimage sounds like a great way to start my little vacation. Nothing better than a road trip with Verna! -Glenn

Jeff: One of the beautiful things about Linux is that is, if you prefer to utilize the command line instead of a GUI so it will run more "DOS-like", Linux will accommodate you nicely: All you need do is change the inittab from runlevel 5 to runlevel 3 and Linux will boot right into command line and never bother with starting a GUI. -Glenn

It's nearly April and I can already taste June. It's been a long winter and I am ready for a road trip to a Klipsch facility. I know there had been an informal poll taken on the Klipsch Forum about a month ago, I think by Trey. The poll indicated a majority of folks were leaning toward Hope over Indy this year. However, I have not heard anything different from the grapevine. So, what's the story on Pilgrimage 2013? Anyone care to expound? -Glenn

Youthman: A beautiful home you have there my friend! I agree that the RF5's might just be an ideal choice. When looking at systems years ago, I too auditioned a pair of B&W 604's against some RF-5's and the 5's won. I really like many of B&W's offerings but they can be rather power-hungry, which was a deal-breaker for me relative to my amplifier budget back then. But, it was the sound of the 5's that really won me over and I wound up opting for RF-7's instead. Best of luck and happy shopping! -Glenn

The primary reason I have not adopted an Apple PC is because of their incessant need to keep their wares proprietary. It's the same reason I refuse to purchase many Sony products: Both Sony and Apple insist on releasing many devices with unique connectors, cables, fittings and the like, not to mention how Apple locks all of its software and code down. I refuse to invest in such nonsense only to eventually get burned by obsolescence. The only Apple product I have ever purchased is an iPhone 4. I bought it two years ago and its been the best phone I have ever owned. I wanted to try it and become familiar with how it worked as I'd only heard from others how good it was and I had become fed up with most of my other phones. My 2-year phone contract is now up and I have been considering whether or not to replace the iPhone. I'm not certain that I will because it continues to work fine. However, among my considerations have been the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S-III (or the soon to be released S-4). Naturally, there have been a huge outpouring of raves about the S-III, which is now out-selling iPhone 5. Several friends have S-III's and they are ecstatic about them. In comparison, I know 2 friends who have the iPhone 5 and they both have experienced nothing but issues with them. Plus, every time I talk with them on their phones, at some point in the conversation, their voices always seem to cut out and sound a million miles away as if they are talking through a tin can phone. One of their iPhone 5's refused to shut off for a couple of days and after it finally did, it turned itself back on! This doesn't sound like something I'd be willing to put up with. My wife has a Motorola Droid X, which she got the same time I got my iPhone 4. She's had a few minor problems with it and she seems to have to turn it off and reboot it often when it "freezes" and she has to charge it every single day, while I charge mine about every other day. Her phone's Android OS works very clunky and the touch screen does not respond as smoothly as my iPhone's. The Droid X display is much larger but its resolution is terrible. I believe the Samsung S-III uses the same or similar Android OS as my wife's phone, but it's supposed to have much faster processors and a superior screen and battery life. Add to this the fact the Apple has changed the I/O connector on the iPhone 5 and any devices or cables one purchased for prior releases of the iPhone will no longer fit. Now, there's a "surprise"! So this dilemma for me is parallel to the whole Windows / Linux PC debate. Still undecided. - Glenn

I own neither a touchscreen nor a tablet so, I would not begin to endorse Windows 8 for use on a standard workstation or laptop, even though it does run faster: That's not enough for me. In my opinion, the manner in which Microsoft went to great lengths to eliminate most of the long-term user familiarity from Windows 8 was nothing but sheer lunacy! I'm beginning to wonder what they are smoking up there in Redmond. Especially now that Gates says he'll pay $100,000 to whomever comes up with a better condom. "WHAT???" I've had lots of luck running Windows 7 and I am not about to switch to Windows 8 any time soon. Microsoft really blew it! But thank Goodness for Oracle Virtual Box and Linux! -Glenn

We began testing Windows 8 at school about 6 months prior its commercial release and we discovered a couple of things: If you have a tablet or touch screen PC, it's great. It runs very fast and takes up less real estate on the hard drive. It is difficult to get used to the hidden administration features. If you don't have a tablet or touch screen PC, it absolutely sucks. (I have neither and will not be going to it) That said, although I am a fan of Windows XP and Windows 7, I also am a Linux fan. I run XP on my HP workstation at home. But on my laptop, I run Windows 7 as the primary (host) OS and in a virtual box I am able to run both Open SUSE and Fedora 13 Linux flawlessly. Doing so in this manner gives me the best of both worlds. I am also able to run Apple IOS in the virtual box, too, but I chose not to. One of the best things about Linux: It's FREE!! -Glenn